CEIP in Sturgeon County: 3% Financing and 5% Toward Your New Furnace
Sturgeon County runs a solid CEIP program — a low rate, money toward the job, and up to $50,000 available.
It’s also a small program. The County budgets for roughly 30 residential projects a year. That number matters more than any of the others on this page, and we’ll come back to it.
Rural addresses bring a second wrinkle worth checking before you plan around anything, because the County wraps around several towns that run their own tax rolls. Here’s how it works for a Sturgeon County homeowner.
What you get
3% interest.
Lower than almost any loan or line of credit you'd get for equipment, and half what the City of Edmonton charges on the same work.
5% of the job, from the County.
Worked out on the amount you finance and applied against your loan once the work is done. On a $12,000 furnace and heat pump that's $600.
Up to $50,000, over as long as 20 years.
Enough to cover the full cost of eligible work on a residential property, repaid through your tax bill. Pay it off early with no penalty, or pass the balance to a buyer.
Nothing to us up front.
The program advances our deposit directly to us, so we're not asking you for one. The only cost before work starts is the first energy evaluation, covered further down.
How the 5% actually works
The program’s own wording confuses people, so here’s the plain version.
Think of it as the County making a payment on your loan for you. You don’t get a cheque. The money comes straight off what you owe.
Here's a $12,000 furnace and heat pump:
| Our quote | $12,000 |
|---|---|
| What you pay us up front | $0 |
| What your loan starts at | $12,000 |
| The County's 5% | – $600 |
| What you pay back | $11,400, at 3% |
Three things to know:
It comes at the end.
You get it after the job is finished, your final energy evaluation is done, and your paperwork is in — not when you're approved.
You only get it if you borrow.
The 5% is worked out on the amount you finance. Pay cash for the job instead and there's nothing for it to come off, so you'd be walking away from $600.
It can run out.
There's a limited amount, handed out first-come first-served, one per job. With roughly 30 projects funded a year, that pot moves faster here than in the larger municipalities.
And to be clear: the 5% doesn’t come out of our price. We quote $12,000, you finance $12,000, and the County’s $600 comes off your loan on top of that.
About that 30-projects-a-year number
Sturgeon County’s program is currently at capacity. New pre-qualification submissions go onto a waiting list and are processed first-come, first-served as room opens up.
With roughly 30 residential projects funded annually, this is one of the smaller programs in the region. That cuts both ways. The queue is short in absolute terms, but so is the runway — a handful of large projects can absorb a meaningful share of a year’s budget.
The practical advice is the same as everywhere else, just more so: get in line early. Applying costs you nothing and improves your position. Confirm the current situation with the County or Alberta Municipalities before you plan around a date.
Check who sends your tax bill
This one matters more in Sturgeon County than anywhere else on our list.
Sturgeon County is the rural municipality wrapped around several separate towns. Morinville, Gibbons, Bon Accord, Legal and Redwater are their own municipalities with their own councils and their own tax rolls — and they don’t take part in this program. Neither does St. Albert’s program apply to a County address, even though the County surrounds it.
What decides your eligibility is which municipality issues your property tax notice, not your mailing address or postal code. If you’re on a County tax roll, this program is yours. If your notice comes from Morinville or Gibbons, it isn’t.
Pull out your last tax notice and check. If you’re not sure, we can sort it out during your estimate.
What's covered
Heating and cooling
A high-efficiency furnace, a heat pump (sized to handle at least half your heating), central air conditioning, a high-efficiency boiler, an HRV or ERV, a geothermal heat pump, or an ECM furnace motor.
Water heating
A tankless water heater, a heat pump water heater, a high-efficiency tank water heater, or a drain water heat recovery unit.
Everything has to be ENERGY STAR certified. Any equipment we’d recommend for a winter out here already meets the requirements.
Worth noting: air conditioning and tank water heaters are covered in Sturgeon County. Neither is covered inside the City of Edmonton, so don’t assume an Edmonton rule applies to a County address.
The step most people don't expect
Sturgeon County requires two energy evaluations by a certified Energy Advisor — one before work starts, one after it’s done. We can’t do them for you, and they’re not optional.
The first has to happen before anything gets installed. Miss the second one and you lose both your financing and your 5%.
You pay for the first evaluation yourself. You can then ask to have both added to your financing and get that money back once the job is finished. So it’s money out of pocket for a while, not money gone.
Book the Energy Advisor early. Waiting on one is the most common reason these jobs get delayed — and on an acreage or a rural address, scheduling can take longer than it does in the city.
How Sturgeon County compares
Every municipality runs its own version of CEIP. Here is where each one stands.
| Where you live | Interest rate | Toward your job | Most you can borrow | Term | Open today? |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Albert | 1.62%never past 3% | $1,400 | 100% of the job | 20 years | Waiting list |
| Sherwood Park | 2% | 5% of the job | Capped at your yearly property tax | 20 years | Closed — waiting list |
| Sturgeon County | 3% | 5% of the job | $50,000 | 20 years | At capacity — waiting list |
| Spruce Grove | 3.5% | 7.5% of the job | $50,000 | 25 years | Full — waiting list |
| Edmonton | 6%fixed | None | $50,000 | 20 years | Nearing capacity — waiting list |
| Leduc | Was about 1.35% blended | Was $1,350 | — | — | Closed to new applications |
| Stony Plain | — | None | — | — | No program |
Figures current as of July 2026. Rates and waiting lists change — confirm with your municipality before planning around a date.
Is this right for you?
Probably yes if:
- Your furnace is old and you're planning ahead
- You can wait — the waiting list plus the evaluations means weeks, possibly months
- You'd rather keep your cash
- You're staying in the house a while, or you don't mind passing the balance to a buyer
Probably not if:
- You have no heat right now
- You need this done in the next week or two
- You want the equipment paid off outright with nothing attached to your title
If you’re in the second group, we finance through FinanceIt, which moves quickly and doesn’t involve the County.
What you do pay for yourself
We’d rather say this plainly than let “nothing down” do more work than it should.
You pay us nothing up front. The program advances our deposit straight to us, so we don’t ask you for one. That part really is zero.
Two costs can still come out of your pocket:
The first energy evaluation.
You pay the Energy Advisor yourself before work starts, usually a few hundred dollars. You can add both evaluations to your financing and get that money back after the job, so it comes back to you. But it leaves your account first.
Anything the program won't cover.
If part of the job isn't eligible, or the total runs past your approved amount, you pay us for that portion directly. Work around the equipment, such as venting, electrical or duct changes, is where this usually shows up.
What we provide
Three things, specifically.
A quote your application will accept.
The program only takes estimates from an approved contractor, and the quote has to be detailed enough for the County to work from. You get a properly sized system, a written number, and any part of the job the program won't cover marked clearly.
Guidance at every step.
CEIP has more moving parts than most homeowners expect: the application, two energy evaluations, the completion form, the deadlines. We walk you through the order things happen in and point you toward a certified Energy Advisor for your evaluations.
The install, done properly.
Sized for your home, installed to program specification, and documented so your final evaluation passes cleanly. By a company that will still be here in ten years if a warranty question ever comes up.
We’ve been family-owned in the Edmonton area since 1976, we’re rated 4.8 stars across more than 400 Google reviews, and we’re an approved CEIP contractor — which the program requires, and so is any trade we bring with us.
We work throughout Sturgeon County and neighbouring St. Albert, and we’re used to rural addresses and acreage systems. If the waiting list doesn’t fit your timeline, we’ll tell you plainly and walk you through the alternatives.
What we don’t do: run the program, approve applications, or decide who gets funded. That’s the County and Alberta Municipalities. Anyone who tells you they can get your application approved is overselling.
Book a free estimate
The first step is finding out what your home needs and what it costs. That visit is free, takes about an hour, and the written quote is the document your CEIP application is built on.
Want the full picture, including how Sturgeon County compares to the rest of the Edmonton area? Read our complete CEIP guide.
Modern Air & Water is not affiliated with the Clean Energy Improvement Program, Alberta Municipalities, or Sturgeon County, and we don’t administer or approve applications. Rates, rebate amounts, limits and availability are set by the County and change over time. Check sturgeoncounty.ca or ceip.abmunis.ca for current details. Figures current as of July 2026.